It's the Booze Talkin', There is no such thing as a Final Chapter in horror!

This is the one you’ve been screaming for! It has all come to this! We’ve heard it all before, and frankly, it is usually absolutely, positively not true. And yet once again, we are hearing that very thing with the upcoming RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER. So January 27th, 2017, we will find out the fate of Alice (Milla Jovovich) and crew. Or will we? Are audiences really fooled by this tactic? Or do the filmmakers really plan to put an end to the franchise once and for all? Let us look back at some of the many “Final Chapters” in movie history and see just how final they actually were.

Back in the early Eighties, Paramount Pictures had a string of successful horror flicks that many of us at AITH hold near and dear. FRIDAY THE 13th was (and arguably still is) a hugely popular franchise that gained momentum for a number of films. And when it came time to really kill Jason Voorhees forever, they went all out. FRIDAY THE 13th: THE FINAL CHAPTER was a solid horror movie - as far as F13 was concerned - and those in charge were ready to finally let the hockey masked maniac rest in pieces. However, the movie was a hit, and suddenly the powers that be weren’t ready to let the memory of Jason go. And next thing you know, a year later we had the lackluster FRIDAY THE 13th: A NEW BEGINNING.

In fact, that wasn’t the only time they promised to rid the sex crazed teens at Camp Crystal Lake their worst nightmare. They finally ditched the whole FRIDAY THE 13th title when the series went to New Line Cinema and suddenly we found that JASON GOES TO HELL would be THE FINAL FRIDAY. This time however, they knew damn well that the slasher wasn’t going anywhere permanently. With plans for FREDDY VS. JASON and a little space adventure with JASON X, there was much more mayhem coming our way. So Jason may have gone to hell, but he had no intention of staying there.

Mr. Voorhees was not the only one who we thought was finally dead and buried. After a handful of sequels, another popular horror franchise with dream killer Freddy Krueger was about to be erased from our sleep as well. With the erroneously bad sixth entry, we were promised FREDDY’S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE. And for a long while, it appeared that this NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET was in dreamland forever. Thankfully, if anybody could bring him back it would be his creator, the great Wes Craven. In NEW NIGHTMARE, the legendary director brought Krueger on the big screen in a far more satisfying way. And while the installment wasn’t the hit they were hoping, it was a far more suitable end for the character.

So how final is the final chapter? Generally not so much. The teen prostitute cheapie ANGEL III: THE FINAL CHAPTER wasn’t. The killer croc flick LAKE PLACID: THE FINAL CHAPTER only led to LAKE PLACID VS. ANACONDA. The deadly dolls of PUPPET MASTER 5: THE FINAL CHAPTER made way for CURSE OF PUPPET MASTER and so on. Frankly, I'm probably missing a few franchise flicks that didn't die. Of course we did have SAW 3D: THE FINAL CHAPTER which has yet to see another installment. Even though Jigsaw has long since died with others doing his deadly bidding, there has been a ton talk of another SAW. It would be a safe bet that we will see either a reboot or a prequel over the course of the next few years.

Maybe it’s the booze talkin’, but in horror there is no such thing as a Final Chapter. From the big horror franchise to the smaller made for video flicks, I guess evil never really dies. So with this final RESIDENT EVIL, perhaps Milla Jovovich is finally saying goodbye to the series. Yet the financially lucrative series of films will probably continue. Whether it is by placing focus on a new character, or hiring another actress replacing Milla, I’m guessing this isn’t the last we will see of The Hive. After all, this is Hollywood, and they aren’t exactly known for letting a series end gracefully, at its prime. So bring on more of everything because you can’t keep a good monster, slasher, psycho, walking corpse, or whatever nightmare Hollywood cooks up, dead for very long.